Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division

Description

1. 283 audiocassettes.

Summary

1. The collection consists of 304 audio recordings and 39 moving image recordings which include a mixture of Bown performing in the studio and on broadcast television as well as her own personal audio and moving image recordings.

Subject

1. African American musicians
2. Pianists
3. Piano music (Jazz)
4. Women jazz musicians

Genre/Form

1. Sound recordings.
2. Video recordings.

Call number

1. Sc MIRS Bown 2008-16

Biography (note)

1. Patti Bown (July 26, 1931– March 21, 2008) was an American jazz pianist, singer, and composer. Born in Seattle, Washington, Bown studied classical piano from a young age. As a teenager, she began performing in Seattle's Jackson Street jazz scene. She attended the University of Seattle on a music scholarship. During 1958, she recorded an album, Patti Bown Plays Big Piano. In 1959, Quincy Jones invited her to join a big band he was assembling for a European tour of Harold Arlen's musical, Free and Easy. The show toured from December 1959 until February 1960, after which the band toured Europe for eight months. Bown recorded with Quincy Jones several times from 1959 to 1961. In the 1960s she worked extensively in the studios, recording with Gene Ammons, Oliver Nelson, Cal Massey, Duke Ellington, Roland Kirk, George Russell, and Harry Sweets Edison. Her musical compositions were recorded by jazz legends Sarah Vaughn, Benny Golson, and Duke Ellington. She collaborated with lyricists such as Maya Angelou and Buddy Bernier. From 1962 to 1964, she was Dinah Washington's musical director. In 1972, Bown was musical director for Joseph Papp's production, Ti-Jean and His Brothers, which debuted Off-Broadway. She was also active in the theater in other capacities, playing piano and acting in productions such as Woodie King, Jr.'s Christchild (1992). Bown continued to perform up to the 1990s. In 1996, she received a lifetime achievement award from International Women in Jazz, and in 2006 she received the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Award. She lived in Greenwich Village for the last 37 years of her life, and played regularly at the nightclub Village Gate. She died in Media, Pennsylvania.

Author

1. Bown, Patti, creator.

Title

1. Patti Bown audio and moving image collection.

Publisher

1. [2008]

Type of content

1. performed music
2. spoken word
3. two-dimensional moving image

Type of medium

1. audio
2. video

Type of carrier

1. audiocassette
2. audiotape reel
3. audio disc
4. videocassette
5. videotape reel

Biography

1. Patti Bown (July 26, 1931– March 21, 2008) was an American jazz pianist, singer, and composer. Born in Seattle, Washington, Bown studied classical piano from a young age. As a teenager, she began performing in Seattle's Jackson Street jazz scene. She attended the University of Seattle on a music scholarship. During 1958, she recorded an album, Patti Bown Plays Big Piano. In 1959, Quincy Jones invited her to join a big band he was assembling for a European tour of Harold Arlen's musical, Free and Easy. The show toured from December 1959 until February 1960, after which the band toured Europe for eight months. Bown recorded with Quincy Jones several times from 1959 to 1961. In the 1960s she worked extensively in the studios, recording with Gene Ammons, Oliver Nelson, Cal Massey, Duke Ellington, Roland Kirk, George Russell, and Harry Sweets Edison. Her musical compositions were recorded by jazz legends Sarah Vaughn, Benny Golson, and Duke Ellington. She collaborated with lyricists such as Maya Angelou and Buddy Bernier. From 1962 to 1964, she was Dinah Washington's musical director. In 1972, Bown was musical director for Joseph Papp's production, Ti-Jean and His Brothers, which debuted Off-Broadway. She was also active in the theater in other capacities, playing piano and acting in productions such as Woodie King, Jr.'s Christchild (1992). Bown continued to perform up to the 1990s. In 1996, she received a lifetime achievement award from International Women in Jazz, and in 2006 she received the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Award. She lived in Greenwich Village for the last 37 years of her life, and played regularly at the nightclub Village Gate. She died in Media, Pennsylvania.

Local note

1. Forms part of the Patti Bown archive. Papers can be found in the Manuscript & Rare Books Division: Patti Bown papers, 1940-2007. (Sc MG 785).

Connect to:

1. Request Access to Schomburg Moving Images and Recorded Sound

Added author

1. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division.

Research call number

1. Sc MIRS Bown 2008-16